NW Butt of Slesse

[Jedi]

Anyone have any info on this route? Will be out that way around the 1st of June.

Approach for fun than a barrel of monkeys?

Finding the start of route easy?

Recommended route?

Route finding on route?

Thanks for any info!!

jedi

[Dru]

1) Early June - only if you like wet rock and mixed snow/moss climbing

2) Nesakwatch road is driveable. 1 hour hike to memorial. 2 hrs from there to base of Bypass Variation.

3) About 16 pitches of 5th plus lots of 3rd/4th. If you simulclimb, doable in a long day. If you pitch out the 3rd/4th you WILL bivy.

4) Plan on dropping into Slesse and biking back around to your car. Leave a bike beforehand.

5) DO NOT!!!! take the Beckey Ramps unless you have a cow that needs fodder:

http://bivouac.com/mtn/PhotoPg.asp?rq=PhotoPg&PhotoId=354

[fredrogers]

One day, when I grow up, I'd like to do it.

Until then, here's a great trip, albiet dated, report from Geroge Bell:

http://www.geocities.com/~gibell/trip_reports/50cc.html

 

[Ziff]

Am I right in assuming you mean the NE buttress route on Slesse?

If you climb in between the Beckey Ramps and the 5.10 crux section, it stays around 5.7 with no grass and no need to chew the cud! After a long pitch, you will cut back into the Beckey ramps and follow the deep gulley that leads you to the base of the 5.8+ layback pitch below the large bivi ledge. Pro is satisfactory but not great.

[This message has been edited by Ziff (edited 05-14-2001).]

[freak]

ice axe and some like hiker crampons would have been helpfull when I was up there, from like the propeller you go across the slabs climb up through a notch then down climb some sketchy stuff, then your on the pocket, go fast. dude park a car at the "new slesse trail" rideing a bike like 10 miles after that thing would suck. Finding the right road to park on is a bitch, when your near the boys camp, your close. dude when you get on the mossy face thats like 1/3 of the way up, you get to the top of that, veer back towards the ridge crest,to get to the 5.8 layback crack that ends at a nice bivy. if you dont you could get sandbagged in a blank 5.11 corner with no pro, you will have to get all mission imposible style. this canuk got all off route there, we cliped him into one of our peices as we passed and saved his ass, he took a wild pendulum though, it was rad. have fun, the upper pitches are bad ass corners and little overhangs, gear is sometimes funky but adequate.

[Lambone]

An old ex-friend/ ex-boss of mine climbed it once. He flew in by chopper with another party to split the cost. He said that its the way to go if you want to rally it light and fast in a day. Ethics Schmethics!

[Dru]

Oh dear another bad reply from lamebone. you absolutely do NOT need a helicopter to do slesse ne buttress in a day. maybe ten years ago, when the road was trash, it woiuld have helped. fact is it takes 3 hours for turtles to go from road to base of route. about another9-10 hrs to climb rthe route, and 4 to descend, plus return time depending on if you have 2 cars or a bike. so it's a long day (17 hours) but using a helicopter to shave 4 hours off your day does not seem to me like a smart way to spend $700.....

[forrest_m]

Amen! Not only is it a waste of $700 (use the money to hire a personal trainer and get into good enough shape to do the route) but I hereby declare that using a chopper to do the NE Butress of Slesse is CHEATING. Heh, heh, heh...

[Peter_Puget]

Here is my 2 cents. When I climbed it about 20 years ago so my brain may be a bit foggy. We drove up from Seattle early and climbed the toe up to the nice bivi ledges and spent the night. Finished early the next morning. My advice would be bivi it's a beautiful place. Big bivi spot with super views.

[Lambone]

Sorry to bore you guys, I am just getting fed up with people making fun of my username. It is destroying my self-esteme. I know that climbing comes second, after being accepted into the cascade climbers gang. But it scares me that Lambone will never do...I should just retire it.

[This message has been edited by lambone (edited 06-01-2001).]

[Retrosaurus]

Please no! It's just to much fun. And just what do you do with those lambs when you're done any way? I hope you don't just ride'em hard and put'em away wet. Where I'm from we shear sheep but I hear you're not shearing yours with any one.

[forrest_m]

Erik - hell, i would never say that flying in is in itself bad, I've done it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm still glad that some areas they are off limits, and obviously, approaching the waddington group by kayaking from vancouver island and hiking from the beach wins more style points than using White Saddle Air. (I know someone who did this - ouch!)

My point was just that classic routes attain their classic status for more than just the climb itself. Stashing a bike at the descent and riding back to your car is part of the "Classic Slesse Experience," hallowed by tradition, sacred to anyone who appreciates the mountai... oh, well anyway, it's a way for those of us who've done it the old fashioned way to feel superior. ;-)

Seriously, I do believe that doing any climb with less rather than more equipment/support/etc. is almost always better style, and in my experience yields a more powerful experience, but until I start walking to the mountains from home, I'm not going to get self-righteous about it...

[jblakley]

I hear that a school of Prana shorts can strip a human clean to the bone in minutes. Is the fabric really that rough? lambone..a new alias may be in order at this point. The one you have now is just too much of a slam dunk. LOL Chin up me bucko, life should be one long laugh.

[specialed]

what the hell is a "lambone" anyway?

[forrest_m]

gee, I always thought it was I am bone

[Lambone]

Right on forrest,

Not that anyone cares, but I am bored so I'll share another mini epic. We once had to drop a bike off for returning to the car on an Ice climbing outing In Cooke City, Wyoming. The climb went well, but I almost killed myself biking downhill on the ICY road afterwards, totaly out of control. I almost went head on into a monster snowplow! Those were the days... We went to look for sheep later that night!

[Lambone]

Ok, here is the deal.

My last name is Lambert. My old buddies in Montana used to call me Lambone. The nick name just stuck. I never thought about doin' the nasty with lambs untill you perverted, sick bastards brought it up!

Now that you know my last name, please don't track me down and kill me! -matt

[specialed]

what does that have to do with being a bone?

that kind of sounds like when we used to go hooky-bobbin back in Montana. You go to a iced over road and hang on to the back of your buddy's truck while he drives, and "ski" along the road. Completely sober, of course.

[Lambone]

I don't know, you'd have to ask Tonebone. Maybe it had something to do with all the dope we used to smoke. "Role up a bone dude". We were just silly little college fools.

I just wanted to carry abit of my heritige with me to the cascades. Call it nestalgia(?).

[specialed]

You gotta miss the Gallatin Green.

[Lambone]

Roots baby!

[Lambone]

Hey erik,

I'd like to see your flourescent lycra collection! Every generation has a fad, from army surplus, to pink stretch tights, to prana baggies, it's all the same only more expensive.

[Lambone]

Hey Dru,

F*#@ off, I din't say that I paid seven hundred bucks to fly in. My stupid old ex- boss did. I'm just another dirtbag who will someday have to walk in like everyone else. And I will like it. If you wan't to spray about epic approaches, bring it on! My stupid old ex-boss fired me for being late to work after I hiked 30 miles out of the Winds in a day with no food, a 50 lb. pack, and a partialy dislocated shoulder. Then I had to drive 5 hours back to Bozeman. Needless to say I slept through my alarm clock!

[erik]

YAWN!

bone that is some serious spray right there! dude i think you got my keybored all wet!

[This message has been edited by erik (edited 06-01-2001).]

[erik]

so if you all think the helo bid-ness is so bad, then what would you call allan kearney's ascent of combatant this past august. if i remember right(which i rarely do) they said that no one could make the ascent with so much style. they flew into the glacier/col?!. where is the style in that? i thought a trip up from the inland passage was style! who knows though? maybe it changes with the climber and the objective. i personally would be much more tickled with the complete ascent from sea level, but that is just me.